Artists in Burkina Faso are marginalized from the recent surge of interest in contemporary African art in the West. Eliard asks why this is so and then proceeds to examine the contemporary art scene in Burkina Faso. The government of Burkina Faso has been supportive of the arts, especially cinema and artisan crafts. Painters, sculptors, and designers have operated in a relatively smaller sphere. Eliard considers several Burkinable artists and their oeuvres within the social and economic contexts of Burkina Faso and with reference to their reception in the West. The focus is mainly on the 1990s.